iOS 26 Includes A Surprise Feature That Lets You Color Match Your Icons To Your Phone Case

Apple added the option to customize your home screen icons back in iOS 18, allowing you to make them darker or even tint them based on a color in your wallpaper. Now, though, the company looks to be taking things a step further with even more in-depth icon customization in iOS 26. One way Apple is accomplishing this is by giving users the ability to match the color of their icons to their phone case. But only with certain cases.

For this new feature to work, you'll need to have a MagSafe case that your iPhone can automatically recognize. The exact technology behind this is a bit unclear, but based on reports from MacRumors, it looks like the feature already appears in the iOS 26 release candidate and is based on how your phone communicates with MagSafe certified accessories. This is essentially an early look at the upcoming operating system, which should be available on September 15, ahead of the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air.

To make use of the new case-match tint, you'll want to follow the standard steps to customize your home screen. Once you've selected Customize and pulled up the icon customization screen, you should be able to select from an assortment of options, including Default, Dark, Clear, and Tinted options.

Near the bottom of this menu, you will also be able to select a button that looks like the back of a phone case, which will automatically check your phone's case color. If the phone can recognize the case, it will change the tint colors to match it.

Not all MagSafe phone cases will support this functionality. While there are plenty of "MagSafe Compatible" cases out there, but users will likely need a MagSafe certified case to make use of this functionality. This most likely means you'll need to use a first-party Apple case, though any case that has the Made for MagSafe badge should work, as these are cases that trigger the MagSafe animation, work with full wireless charging speeds on MagSafe chargers, and should include the official MagSafe magnet array. They're also designed to meet Apple's MFi (Made for iPhone) standards.